My faith in the milk of human kindness has been restored......

Something very shocking happened to me last week..... something very unexpected.....

I was on a business trip to sunny Aberdeen (to train some colleagues in preparation for my departure to Libya in the not to distant future) ....

.....when (as usual) I managed to lose my wallet (this ranks slightly below me leaving my car/flat keys behind in a Libyan guesthouse).... with all my credit/debit cards, pictures, memory cards and personal items (but no cash as I'm am tight Yorkshireman!!)!!!

Anyway all I had to get me back to London was my passport and e-ticket.... I got to Aberdeen airport and jumped on my plane to Heathrow.... not knowing how I was going to make the journey home without cash....

All was not lost I thought to myself as I landed at Heathrow, for I have my trusty mobilephone to hand.... with a few swift calls I could enlist the help of one my multitudes of friends........

except..... my battery was dead.... so what did I do.... I found a wall socket, and plugged my phone in.... many of you may think this is no big deal... except I was terrified...imagine the situation... there I was a Muslim, with no identification.... loitering around the brand new Terminal 5, sticking wires and cables all over the place...... I was praying that no one would notice - cos if I got caught it would be straight to Guantanamo Bay for me no questions asked!!!!!!

(ps for the avoidance of doubt that is a joke I don't think I would have been carted off anywhere - I think that at worst I would have received a stern telling of for stealing some electricity!!!)

Anyway - with my phone charged I made a call....and my SOS was answered by Sajid. Now you have to remember its Ramadan, and he was about to break his fast with his family, it was late in the evening and he had work the next day - but still Saj came to the airport to pick me up and offered to drive me home (which was 20+ miles away (about 1 hour each way)). That was the first event that restored my faith in humanity.....

The second event - which really shocked me was a call from the AA asking me to call Grampian police....

I was worried......

When I called the Grampian (Aberdeen) police I was very very surpised... my wallet had been found and handed in to the police....

This is the first time in my life this had happened - I have lost my wallet (and various other personal items) many many times and this was the first time it has ever been returned - and the first time someone has tried to trace me.... Anyway the police are now posting the wallet to me as we speak and I'm waiting to receive it.

But like I said, I was very surprised that my wallet was found and is being returned to me. I am very grateful to the kind person in Aberdeen and the Grampian Police for returning my wallet and restoring my faith in humanity.

What a year so far......

Well its been quite a hectic year for me so far.................. A fair bit has happened and I seem to have neglected my beloved fan club......

Even though I'm not the most adventerous of people..... so far this year I've visited Weeze (Germany), Tripoli, (Libya), Aberdeen (Scotland), Plymouth (Devon), Barcelona (Spain) and Karachi (Pakistan). Admittedly, the first four were work related - but I managed to see places I hadn't seen before of at least hadn't visited in a long time.

Talking about work - things have been all change there as well. I have a new manager and the department has been change around completely. Everything from the work we do to the new faces in the office. I was offered two new roles at work - one in Libya and one one in Aberdeen. And again - I think everyone has been surprised that boring old me has decided to up sticks and move to Libya - so this means that over the new months there are going to be a lot of changes in both my personal and work lives.... there are going to be a lot of challenges and a lot of adventures...... lets see what the future holds....

Outside of work two friends have gotten married (so congratulations to Mark & Amanda and Stuart and Lorna).

I've taken part in a charity challeng (BG Challenge) which involved three days of intense activities, night orienteering, running, riding, running and riding, games and all with lots of problem solving thrown in. I spent a few weeks training for the event - but I must say thanks to all the guys in the team without whom I couldn't have acheived anywhere near as much as I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started to learn Arabic - but then quit as I didn't have the time to commit!!!!

I watched lots of Doctor Who (who seems to have filled the gap in my life when Buffy the Vampire Slayer went of the air!?!?!?!?)

Through the course of the year I've learnt a lot about me and the people around me..... There have been good time and not so good.... but there are no regrets . as I quoted someone in my last post - the goods times were wonderful.....and the not so good will be put down to experience.

This may not be a lot to many folks.... but for a fat slob like me its plenty.... and there are still three more months to go.... si plent of time for plenty more!!!!!!!

Oh yeah... there is one more peice of news............ but that can wait for a while ;O)

Quotes

Yes I have been struggling to blog for a while.......... but in the absence of a working brain I have decided that I will steal some quotes from others...

here are some that I like

Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience. (Victoria Holt - no idea who she is!!!)

This says to me that nothing we do in life is lost - either we'll enjoy it and it was worth ir or if it wasn't we'll know better next time (the only issue is when you keep repeating the same mistakes and you don't learn from your experience......... in which case you've learnt you have a habit you need to get rid of.......)

If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying? (Shantideva - again never heard of 'em)

There are things in life you can influence and things you can't. EIther way worrying about things clearly isn't the way to go - worry get you nowhere (unless you're me and you end up bald).

If you can solve you're problem then go ahead and solve it..... if you can't - then learn to accept it. Its going to be around for a while. So think of making the best of what you have.

If you spend toooooooooo much time worrying about what you can't influence then you may miss the diamonds that are staring you in the face!

Anyway, that's all for me ripping of other people's quotes for today!!!!

Ponder and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!